Lay Me Down to Sleep

Chapter 3

Kim is outside of his body. He is outside of his body and he is watching Chay sleep until he sees a light over on the other side of the trees. It isn't the sun. The sun isn't blue. It's something else. Kim has a feeling he is dead. He's dead and Chay is going to wake up and find him as such. As selfish of a thought as it is, Kim is grateful it isn't the other way around. If it were, one of two things would happen. 

1. He would go ahead and free himself from Chay, then somehow make it out of this forest and inform Kinn of Chay's passing so he could deal with breaking the news to Porsche. Kim wouldn't be able to deal with that, but he would be able to deal with making sure Chay's body would be brought back home before killing everyone who may have been involved in this. He would do that, then write and record a tragic and melancholy goodbye album before taking his own life. 

2. Or he would just kill himself right here. Their bodies would likely never be found and they would eventually be eaten by wild animals. 

It is definitely for the best that Chay is the one who lived. He deserves to live. 

"I'm sorry for everything," Kim says to him, then reaches out to stroke Chay's hair. He can't even feel it, "Be happy. Do whatever you can to get out of here. I really do love you." 

Kim lets himself watch Chay for a minute longer, then gets up and walks towards the light. He guesses that is what the dead are supposed to do or it wouldn't be there, and neither would some woman who is casually chewing gum and filing her nails in the middle of nowhere. 

"Name?" She asks as a podium with a large book appears in front of her.

"Kim Khimhant Theerapanyakul," Kim says, then looks around, "So what's going to happen from here? Reincarnation, Heaven, Hell, what is it?"

"Theerapanyakul…T…T," the woman mutters to herself as she flips through the pages, "Wow. I have never seen a bio so long for someone so young."

Kim isn't sure if that's a good thing or not, "It…It probably isn't all good, whatever is written there. I understand if I need to face eternal punishment for murdering people or whatever-"

"You never killed anyone who wasn't trying to kill you or someone you love," the woman says, shrugging, "I've seen worse." 

Kim feels a little bit of relief at that, "Okay. That's good to hear. So - regardless of where I go - would it…Can I see my ma?"

"Hm," the woman hums, then scans the page, "It is close to the top of your eternal wish list, to see your mother again."

Kim looks away and nods silently. 

"So is destroying any semblance of power held by your father, winning a JOOX award, marrying Porchay, and raising three daughters with him to balance out the masculine energy in your family-"

"What?" Kim asks, then walks closer to her, "No, it's not. I never…I love Porchay. I stopped denying that. But I don't care about marriage and kids-"

"You don't care about it now," the woman says, then keeps reading his section like it's a juicy gossip magazine, "But you will."